advertisement

red line
SuperKids Software Review - The Parent's and Teacher's Guide to Childrens' Software
free newsletter! spacer tell a friend! spacer contests
spacer
software
  reviews
  bestseller list
  price survey
  what's new
  product support
  search
spacer
educational tools
  ask a scientist
  math worksheets
  vocabulary builders
  hangman
  iPhone/iPad apps
  logic games
  brain food
spacer
educational insights

feature articles
spacer
marketplace
  iPhone/iPad apps
  reading corner
  movie corner
spacer
SuperKids home
  about SuperKids
  advertise!
  humor
  links
  help
spacer
  * * *

Promotions




  * * *

spacer all reviews > > > problem solving software

StarFlyers Alien Space Chase

The Learning Company

Ages 5 to 8

Rating Scale
5 = great,    1 = poor
Educational Value
2.0
Kid Appeal
3.0
Ease of Use
4.0

StarFlyers Alien Space Chase Screen Shot arrow indentSystem Requirements

arrow indentPC / Mac Price Survey

arrow indentProduct Support

In StarFlyers Alien Space Chase, young friends Katherine and Ajay team up with their trusty dog Lo and robot Klanker to become StarFlyer super heroes. Their mission: rescue a group of alien ambassadors kidnapped by their arch-enemy, Vexar.

Starting from the Star Cadet's Academy, the user helps them as they wend their way through three other worlds: Funopolis, Planet Pipeworks, and Cafeterium. In between each of the worlds, the user has the opportunity to play a modified version of the classic Space Invaders arcade game. Except here, instead of shooting missiles at incoming aliens, the user shoots watermelon seeds at a barrage of fruit. Honest.

On Planet Pipeworks, the superheroes need to rescue Commander Anchovie (an ambassador) from a whirlpool. They follow her down the drain, and encounter a puzzle where they must connect a series of pipes using rotatable sections of straight and elbow pieces so she can swim to the top. Five levels of increasing complexity, requiring some spatial awareness planning is required.

On Funopolis, the user gets to play a pattern repetition game, and then go on "the largest slide in the universe." With that type of a buildup, we expected to be treated to some exceptional, vertigo inducing animation. Reality, however, did not live up to the hype. Here, the user exits an elevator, and is confronted with a choice of six tubes to slide down -- one of which apparently contains a trapped Captain Furward (another ambassador). "I don't get it," said our young reviewer. "I saw him in the pink tube at the bottom, but I had to take the green tube to get him..."

We won't spoil all the fun by revealing what other challenges faced our gang of StarFlyers -- but they were consistent in style and content.

Educational Value

What can we say? StarFlyers Alien Space Chase is more a video game than a learning program. Although there is a modicum of problem solving skill required, it doesn't greatly exceed that required by a typical Nintendo game. The most difficult, and hence most time-consuming component of the game in our young reviewer's trials, was a set of Mario-type aracade activities on the Cafeterium planet, where the user had to direct the super-heroes past a series of obstacles. Although it required some problem solving to determine which super hero could overcome which obstacle, for the most part this was a hand-eye-mouse coordination exercise.

Kid Appeal

Bright, colorful animation and a variety of non-violent, arcade-type activities made this a pleasant program for our young reviewers. But even they recognized that they weren't learning a lot from StarFlyers Alien Space Chase.

Ease of Use / Install

StarFlyers Alien Space Chase installed without difficulty on our Windows ME test machine. Users must sign in to begin a session, and can select a difficulty level, or accept the default "auto-leveling" option. Program navigation is largely non-linear, with a few exceptions where the user must first acquire certain objects before being able to access some activities. Although the program includes an electronic user manual on the CD, our reviewers were able to use and complete the program without referring to it.

Best for... / Bottom-Line

StarFlyers Alien Space Chase is a pleasant, non-violent, near-arcade game suitable for children attracted to that genre.

See SuperKids' comparisons with other problem solving software titles, and the Buyers Guide for current market prices of the PC and Mac versions.

System Requirements
PC: Windows 95/98/ME/2000/XP, Pentium 166MHz or faster cpu, 100 MB hard drive space, 32 MB RAM, 16-bit color, 800x600 display and DirectX-compatible video card, 8X or faster CD-ROM, Windows-compatible sound card, mouse, (optional) Tactile Feedback Mouse.

Mac: MacOS 8.6 thru OS X, PowerPC 180MHz or faster cpu, 100 MB hard drive space, 32 MB RAM, 16-bit color, 800x600 display, 8X or faster CD-ROM, speakers .

Reviewed on:
-     Pentium III - 750 running Windows ME, with 128MB RAM and 24x - CD-ROM
return to top of page



Go to: About SuperKids Educational Software Review
Questions or comments regarding this site? webmaster@superkids.com
Copyright © 1998-2024 Knowledge Share LLC. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy